Langley’s Angel Project boosted by new roof thanks to Lovell

15 April 2016

A team effort has ‘raised the roof’ to help to create a safe outdoor workshop space at a popular community hub.

Lovell Homes donated materials for a brand new roof to provide cover for the yard at ‘Your Hub’, part of the Angel Project in Langley, Middleton.

Founded by Sue Scott, the Angel Project Community Café provides a lifeline for people in Langley to access practical, emotional and social support to alleviate loneliness and isolation.

An extension to the facilities offered at the café, ‘Your Hub’ was the second phase of Sue’s project. Originally a rundown boarded up old launderette, with a back yard full of rubbish, it had been out of use for several years. Sue and her volunteers set about tidying up the yard and creating a space where members of the community can learn woodwork skills, and put their own skills to good use, creating items such as planters, flower boxes and wishing wells. These are then sold to raise further funds to re-invest in the project.

Thanks to Lovell donating more than £2,000 worth of materials, and local businessman Lee Holden and his team providing their time and skills at a reduced cost, a permanent roof has been erected over the yard.

Sue said: “It has now been turned into a great useable space that will benefit the whole community. The complete renovation work has all been done voluntary by local people giving their time, skills, materials and donations, and businesses offering materials and labour.

“This is a great demonstration of what can be achieved when people come together for a great cause in the local community. The new roof erected over the back yard will allow us to develop our existing work, provide opportunity for local people, in a safe space ‘Under One Roof’, which is the name for the workshop.

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank Lovell for their fantastic generosity in helping us to achieve this. We’d also like to wish Lovell’s site manager Nick Carey good luck in his new job. Nick believed in the project from the first time I met him and he took forward our request for materials.”

Lovell are building new homes at the nearby Green Bank development. The Altrincham-based housing company also donated £500 in cash to cover the cost of the children’s Christmas trip to Gulliver’s World after the café was broken into and vital funds stolen last November.

The Angel Project Community Café and ‘Your Hub’ was set up by Sue in the heart of the Langley estate, to offer people support on their own doorstep. The project works with everyone, including people with mental health issues, health related conditions, older people and vulnerable people who wish to benefit from support, advice and information around health and wellbeing.

Nick said: “The Angel Project plays a vital role within the community of Langley and we’re so pleased we could help them to build on their fantastic work by providing the materials for a new roof at the community hub.”

As well as being a place people can meet and chat, the café and community hub host a variety of events and activities such as afternoon tea parties, self-support groups for people in recovery from drug and alcohol addiction, anxiety and depression, craft workshops, day trips for local families and activities for children.

Volunteer support is central to the Angel Project and it also offers work placements designed around each individual’s needs and circumstances, promoting the volunteers’ overall wellbeing, skills and talents.

If you are interested in getting involved with the Angel Project, or would like to volunteer, contact Sue Scott on 0161 425 5454. For more information visit the projects Facebook page: www.facebook.com/AngelProjectCafe.